The womanly avatars of these B-Town actors made moviegoers cringe

By Sonali Joshi Pitale |Posted 05-Jul-2014

Sporting a womanly avatar is a stunt that not every actor can pull off

Since someone in Bollywood thought that the great idea of dressing up the hero in a woman’s dress is incredibly funny, we have been inflicted with a lot of such episodes. We think those manly limbs and fake breasts might have raised some laughter a few decades ago, but now most of them have only ended up being a cringe-worthy experience for the audience. For instance, Ram Kapoor was a TV icon we looked up to, till he decided to shock us with a bikini act.

Recently, Shakti Kapoor donned the female garb when the media turned up to cover the mahurat shoot for his upcoming film, Rakht Dhaar. The actor was dressed in a yellow kurta and purple salwar, with heavy makeup and accessories, and he looked quite a sight.

Passing off as a woman is not something every actor can pull of as these actors have shown us with their onscreen attempts.

hitlist points out instances where audiences were tormented by the sight of actors togged out as women...

Ram KapoorFilm: Humshakals (2014)

Lowdown: The actor’s decision to remove body hair and don an orange swimming costume in his latest film has not gone down well with his fans and he has received lot of flak for it. Turns out that Ram was not too keen to do this scene either.

Shakti KapoorFilm: Rakht Dhaar (2014)

Lowdown: Shakti Kapoor plays a eunuch in his upcoming film. To give the media a sneak peek of what lays in store, the actor even turned up in his onscreen avatar at the film’s launch. Not surprisingly, the gaudy make up, combined with loud jewellery, didn’t impress many.

Lowdown: Soon after Vindoo came out of jail after his alleged role in the match fixing scam, his photographs dressed as a woman were leaked out. The actor, who was known for his role of Hanuman, is now going to play a woman in Balwinder Singh Famous Ho Gaya. Thankfully, the film is still in its making stage and is yet to hit the screens.

Shahid KapoorFilm: Milenge Milenge (2010)

Lowdown: This long stuck film of Shahid and Kareena Kapoor didn’t get good reviews and Shahid’s avatar as a woman in some scenes didn’t help either.

Sanjay DuttFilm: Mera Faisla (1984)

Lowdown: In one of the scenes from the film, Dutt is seen sporting a salwar kameez and mang tika. Though the act was supposed to be funny, it was dreadful to see Dutt in women’s outfits.

Akshay KumarFilm: Khiladi (1992)

Lowdown: The film may have given Akshay his big break but his female get-up didn’t earn him any positive reactions. Akshay and co-actor Deepak Tijori’s womanly act was more awful and less funny. The Khiladi seems to have learned from his mistake and hasn’t repeated such an act till date.

Javed Jaaferi/Shreyas TalpadeFilm: Paying Guest (2009)

Lowdown: Both Javed and Shreyas promoted their film by dressing up as women. While Shreyas did manage to draw some smiles, Javed, with his shocking blond hair and tracksuit, made no impact whatsoever as a girl.

Salman KhanFilm: Jaan E Mann (2006)

Lowdown: In Shirish Kunder’s debut film, he managed to convince Salman to sport an outfit with noodle straps. But it’s Salman we are taking about here and the actor can’t run away from his image. Not only was the actor uncomfortable in his female avatar, he was also unconvincing.

Ajay DevgnFilm: Golmaal (2008)

Lowdown: Action star Ajay too has dressed up as a girl in one of his films. He did it for his director friend Rohit Shetty’s comic caper but clearly didn’t look anything like a woman. Luckily, both the actor and his director realised their folly and never repeated this gag in the Golmaal franchise.

Actors who could pull off the look

Aamir KhanFilm: Baazi (1995)

Lowdown: He did an item number in this film and looked hotter and sexier than some of his fellow actresses. Recently, he dressed up as a woman for a series of commercials.

Saif Ali Khan- Riteish DeshmukhFilm: Humshakals (2014)

Lowdown: The film may have received negative reviews, but Saif and Riteish’s girly acts were the only saving grace of this movie. They both looked pretty and comfortable in their avatars.

GovindaFilm: Aunty No 1 (1998)

Lowdown: Like the name suggests, Govinda played an aunty in the film and she sported different looks in it. With his comic timing and dancing skills, this aunty was really witty.

Kamal HassanFilm: Chachi 420 (1997)

Lowdown: In his directorial debut, Kamal Hassan played a brave old woman. Thanks to prosthetic makeup, the actor was unrecognisable and it was a treat to watch him play an elderly Maharashrian woman.